


You Don't Have to Stay

by Skyler10



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst to Fluff, F/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Pete's World, Post-JE, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 18:51:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8458984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyler10/pseuds/Skyler10
Summary: Just after leaving Bad Wolf Bay II, Jackie, Tentoo, and Rose get in an accident. Rose wakes up in the hospital...





	

**Author's Note:**

> An anonymous person on Tumblr prompted: Rose/Tentoo, "You don't have to stay." 
> 
> Here was my answer. :)

The last thing Rose Tyler remembered was being slammed into the new new Doctor’s side as horns blared and glass shattered. But currently it was very dark and she was lying in a bed that didn’t feel like hers. As consciousness returned, she realized it was dark because her eyes were closed and the beep of her monitored pulse told her she must be in hospital.

She forced her eyelids open, causing the man holding her hand to exhale in relief and whisper her name. It was the Doctor. Of course it was. She tried to smile for him, to let him know she was fine. She must have at least partially succeeded at the smile because he squeezed her hand and said her name again.

“I’m right here, love,” he murmured. She tried to sit up, to ask him what happened. “Shhh, no, no. Stay right there. You’ve been in an accident. Well, we all have, but I had enough regeneration energy left in me to avoid injury and your mother was completely fine. The lorry missed her entirely, but you got the worst of it, I’m afraid.”

“Ah! Lovely to see you awake, Miss Tyler!” A sunny nurse smiled to see her awake and the Doctor talking to her. “Here’s some water and your meds. Another few hours of rest and you’ll be free to get back on your way to London. Not that we don’t love having you stay with us in Bergen, of course.”

The nurse marked something on Rose’s chart, checked her IV, handed over the water and pills, and left them alone again.

“Nothing too bad, I take it?” Rose asked after taking the medication and drinking the water.

“Nah, plenty of bruising and they had to remove a lot of glass and such, but nothing major,” the Doctor answered. “You were very fortunate, Fortuna.” His lips turned up in a hint of a smirk at the nickname.

“Lucky pants,” she joked. She leaned back against the pillow and turned her head to maintain eye contact. She could hardly believe he was really here with her. After so long apart, the reality of the situation tumbled through her mind, possibilities and doubts and insecurities piling on one after the other. How could he be happy here in this new life? Waiting. Waiting for her to heal enough to leave this hospital. Waiting for the zeppelin back to London. Waiting for the TARDIS to grow. Waiting for… what? What could this universe offer compared to the power he wielded in the other? Entire armies ran away at the sound of his name in the prime universe. He was a god on some planets. Here, what did he have?

She watched his knee bounce.

“You don’t have to stay.” She tried to keep a level voice as she made the offer. “You can do whatever you want, you know. I know how much you hate waiting around…”  

“I don’t mind, really. There were some interesting magazines here.” He shrugged. “Always good to get a heads-up on the differences, you know. I tried asking Jackie about them, but she kicked me out. Rose, they don’t even have a little shop here. I tried to find you a get-well present, but nothing! Unless you’d like some stale coffee, but even then, I’d have to fight the nurses for it. I came back right as Pete rang, and promised your mother I wouldn’t take my eyes off of you, and trust me, that was exactly what I planned on doing anyway.”

Rose teared up just listening to him, her Doctor, babbling on like he always did, just as she remembered.

“Rose? What is it? Are you still hurting?” he asked, noticing her tears. She shook her head. “Was it something I said?”

“That’s not what I meant. I meant you don’t have to stay with me here, in my boring, human life.”

“What?” His jaw dropped, making her feel a bit silly.

“It’s just, you’ve been waiting for me to heal all day even though you healed instantly. And there’s a lot more waiting you’ll have to do if you stay with me. And more domestic, human, ordinary stuff. I know that’s not you.”

“It’s not you either.” He was almost laughing now, with a twinkle in his eye that perplexed Rose. Here she was, breaking her own heart so she could set him free of whatever obligation he felt toward her, and he was… wait, what did he say?

He sighed when he saw the confusion on her face. “Rose, you are the least boring person I know, which is saying a lot, considering.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. And I’d wait a lifetime for you if you asked. But I know you. You can’t have changed _that_ much.” He raised an eyebrow. “You are jeopardy-friendly to the core. You can’t help it. Trouble finds you. And so does adventure. And that’s where I want to be, Rose Tyler. Right here with you. Having adventures. Though preferably fewer of them involving injuries and hospitals, if I might request.”

“Yeah, I think we can handle that,” she teased, happy tears bubbling up once more. “You’re sure?”

“Have you forgotten already?” he asked in mock scolding. She furrowed her brow, trying to work out what he was hinting at. “I love you and I am never leaving you again.”

“I love you, Doctor,” she confessed, realizing it was the first time she’s said so since he disappeared before her eyes so long ago. She wanted to extend the romantic moment, but her disobedient eyelids kept drifting shut again. The pain medication was making her drowsy.  

“Sleep, love,” he soothed. He stroked a hand through her hair; in return, she gave him a small, sleepy smile. “I’m so glad you’re ok. I was so scared… I just got you back and…” He trailed off, swallowing down the emotion that was rising at the memories of the day.

“Stay with me?” she whispered with eyes closed now, quickly falling into dreamland.

“Forever,” he answered. She let sleep take her into a world of happy fantasies about a future with him, knowing it was no longer wishful thinking, but the rest of her life, waiting for her as soon as she woke.


End file.
